BEAT THE CHILL

Beat the chill this winter with support from

Home Energy Scotland

If you’re worried about your bills, or finding it difficult to keep warm at home, Home Energy Scotland can help you access support to improve things.

Home Energy Scotland is an energy advice service funded by the Scottish Government that provides free, impartial advice to help people stay in control of energy use and save money on their bills. The service has no affiliation with energy suppliers and the team never cold call. Home Energy Scotland can help in a range of ways including: • Help with making sure you are getting the best energy deal • Support for households with prepayment meters who are worried about topping up • Advisors can check eligibility for discounts from energy suppliers such as the Warm

Home Discount Scheme under which you could get £140 off your electricity bill for winter 2020 to 2021.

You could get £140 off your electricity bill for winter 2020 to 2021 under the Warm

Home Discount Scheme.

The money is not paid to you - it’s a one-off discount on your electricity bill or added to your pre payment meter, between

September and March.

There are 2 ways to qualify for the Warm

Home Discount Scheme: • you get the Guarantee Credit element

How to get in touch

If you are, or someone you know is worried about energy bills, call 0808 808 2282 or email adviceteam@sc.homeenergyscotland.org and a friendly advisor will be in touch. Calls are free and lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday from 9am to 5pm. Alternatively, contact Ardenglen on 634 8016 as we are also offering telephone or video appointments every Tuesday starting 17/11/20.

Take our quiz and leave your details to win Take our quiz below to find out - and if you leave your details, you’ll have the chance to win £500 towards your energy bills! Use this web address - http://bit.ly/energy-bills-quiz

Heating your home for less WARM HOME DISCOUNT

How good is your energy saving knowledge?

of Pension Credit - known as the ‘core group’ • you’re on a low income and meet your energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme - known as the ‘broader group’ You may be able to get the discount on your gas bill instead if your supplier provides you with both gas and electricity. Contact your supplier to find out or contact Ardenglen to make an appointment directly with Home Energy Scotland who will assist with this.

Close Encounters... of a bulk kind

We are noticing an increase in bulk items and bin bags being left in closes across the estate. Bulky items pose a trip hazard to other residents and can be a potential fire hazard if the close ever had to be evacuated.

Please remember, items belonging to your household should never be left in the close. All tenants agree to this condition when signing a tenancy agreement. If you have any items belonging to your household stored in the close- bikes, prams, bin bags or other items, please remove them immediately to help keep the area clean, tidy and safe. We appreciate your co-operation with this and hope to see an improvement soon.

Answers on page 12

Drug & Alcohol Support

Our tenant satisfaction results of 2019 showed that there was a 7% increase in tenants’ perception that drug dealing is a serious or minor problem. It also highlighted a 9% increase in the proportion of tenants who felt drug/alcohol abuse is a serious or minor problem within our community.

What is a community Links Practitioner?

We work with people registered with the

Doctors practices and health centres we are based in. We help to address the issues that matter to you.

We have links with the community to find out what is happening and can support you access services/activities that might interest them.

We have time to look at what’s going on and listen to try to identify concerns or issues you have. Whether it is money concerns, relationships, personal issues, addiction issues, any issue we can work through with you.

How to contact your community links

Practitioner

Call or ask your GP, receptionist, or nurse or use contact details below We wanted to share information about agencies who can help to support those who may be struggling with an addiction or indeed support family members who are struggling to help a loved one to overcome an addiction

Community Links Practitioner –available through your own GP practice

issue.

Laura McEwing

Community Links Practitioner Castlemilk Group Practice Health Centre 71 Dougrie Drive Glasgow G45 9AW Castlemilk Group Practice Mobile 07973722581

Kayleigh Stockley

Community Links Practitioner Based in Dr McEvinney & Partners 44 Croftfoot Road Glasgow G44 5JT Tel: 0141 634 6333 Mobile: 07973 722620

Carrie Donnelly

Community Links Practitioner Based in Ker Practice Mobile: 07738765331

FAMILY ADDICTION SUPPORT SERVICES

Offering confidential support to adult Family members including kinship carers who are affected by a loved ones drug or alcohol problems. What We Do & Support on Offer

FASS offers FREE one to one support to adult family members who have been affected by a loved one’s alcohol or drug problem. Access to all FASS Services including: • One to one Family Support • One to one Kinship Support • One to one Bereavement Support • Holistic and Hypnotherapies • Complementary and Beauty Therapies • Bereavement, Kinship and Family

Support Groups • Training If you are concerned about drug dealing within your community, you can contact crimestoppers anonymously on the Freephone number below or log onto https://crimestoppers-uk.org/

Other useful contacts Useful websites and numbers:

Breathingspace 0800 83 85 87 Samaritans 116123 https://www.nhs.uk 111 https://www.lifelink.org.uk 0141 554 4434 • Respite access, Day Trips and Social

Events • Access to GEEZABREAK Respite

Service’s for Kinship • Carers • Information and advice on how to best access other services Our service is still currently accessible under the current pandemic – whilst our surgery that was previously held in Castlemlk Parish Church is closed we are still actively dealing with referrals via telephone.

Please contact us at:

FASS, 123 West Street,Glasgow, G5 8BA TEL: 0141 420 2050 Email: info@fassglasgow.org Web: www.fassglasgow.org TWITTER @FASSglasgow

FACEBOOK /fass.glasgow

SFAD Scottish Families Affected Alcohol & Drugs 08080 101011

Scottish Community Recovery Network

0141 429 8181 http://scrn-recovery.co.uk/

KNOW THE SCORE -

https://knowthescore.info/ 0333 230 9468 Alternatively, you can contact your housing officer who will also be able to signpost and refer you to any individual agencies who can support you. All information & discussions will remain completely confidential.

Problems with Dampness in your Home?

Condensation – what you need to know

On occasion we receive reports of To prevent mould, open the window and wipe dampness in our properties which tiles down after bathing or showering. Bathroom usually turns out to be the result of fans should never be switched off at the isolator condensation. Condensation happens when switch, even when the window is open. moist air comes into contact with a cool surface and water droplets form. This is what happens when your bathroom mirror steams To help reduce the risk of condensation in your home you should: up. • Keep a window open when drying clothes indoors WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? • Don’t dry clothes over warm radiators Your body produces moisture all the time when • Keep the kitchen door closed when cooking you breathe and perspire (sweat). This is more • Keep lids on pots and pans when cooking noticeable when you do exercise and overheat. We also put lots of moisture into the air when we take a bath or shower, cook or wash dishes. Moisture is also produced when we dry clothes indoors, use an unvented tumble dryer, boil the • • Don’t overfill cupboards and wardrobes – make sure air can circulate If you have an extractor fan in the kitchen and bathroom, make sure it is switched on kettle or use a steam iron. • Don’t keep furniture and beds hard against walls – make sure air can circulate WHERE CAN IT HAPPEN? • Keep your heating on low throughout the day Areas with poor ventilation can be prone to in cold weather condensation. This could be behind furniture, • When using a tumble dryer, make sure the particularly wardrobes and beds if they hose is venting outdoors have been placed against an outside wall. • Open windows in every room where Condensation can happen in any room, but possible, even just a little will help improve is most likely to occur in your bathroom and air movement and prevent condensation in bedrooms as they are cooler. the room HOW DO YOU CLEAN IT? • After a bath or shower, open the window and Mould can be easily removed by wiping it off with a disposable cloth using some household cleaner. There is no need to use strong chemicals. Wipe over the area again every • shut the door so that moisture escapes and doesn’t drift through the rest of the house Keep the bathroom door closed when running a bath or bathing or showering few days using diluted household cleaner to • Keep wet coats, boots and shoes out of stop the mould growing back. There are also cupboards and main living areas proprietary mould removal products available Occasionally a mould problem may not be from supermarkets and DIY stores. caused by condensation and if you have tried all HOW DO YOU PREVENT the remedies above and you are still concerned please contact us, but in most cases these CONDENSATION IN YOUR simple lifestyle changes should sort out the HOME? issue and banish the black stuff!

EXTRACTOR FAN MAINTENANCE

If you have an extractor fan in your bathroom or kitchen you should ensure that you use it during times of high moisture e.g. cooking or showering. You should also allow your fan to run for an additional 20 minutes after showering or cooking to allow moisture to be drawn from the air. If your fan is not working please report this to us to repair. It is also important to keep your extractor fans clean to allow it to work effectively. Through time you will notice a build up of dust inside your extractor fan. This should be cleaned regularly using a duster or the hose from your vacuum cleaner with the brush attachment but please remember to turn your fan off during the cleaning process.

What’s new with your Housing and Maintenance Team…

Congratulations to Heather Rooney, Maintenance Assistant who is now on maternity leave after welcoming a beautiful baby girl into the McBurney (pictured here) who joins us with over 30 years of housing experience and we welcome him to the Ardenglen team. John’s main tasks are inspecting and issuing repair work for empty properties ready for re-let, ensuring your annual gas safety check is complete within timescale, monitoring the completion of gas repairs mainly no heating and hot water and contract administration relating to electrical and legionella inspections to name just a few.

Hoddam Avenue world. Her replacement is John

Environmental works

We have recently been carrying out a series of environmental works to the front & rear paths replacing any cracked or slipped slabs. This is just part of a planned programme of works we have been undertaking to carry out repairs to our front and back courts in our tenemental stock where required.

Useful Contacts

Emergency Numbers

For all central heating and hot water emergencies please call City Technical Services on 0333 202 0708

For all other repairs please call City Building on 0800 595 595 (press option 2 for City Building). When reporting a repair please advise the contractor you are a tenant of

Ardenglen Housing Association.

Report a repair free phone line 0300 303 8000 – this number is not available during public holidays.

Cathkin 7 tenants Emergency Out of Hours contacts

Joiner – 07792099717

Plumber– 07957922472

Electrician – 07939530599

Our staff team will stop working for the festive period from

1pm,on Christmas Eve, returning on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 December, 10am until 2pm. Our staff team facebook.com/

will be on holiday again on Friday 1 January returning on Wednesday 6 January. Councillors for

Keep updated with everything Ardenglen by liking us on facebook - here is the link below: https://en-gb.facebook.com/ArdenglenHousing-Association-248201331899561/ We use facebook to promote our services and to keep tenants up to date with important changes such as the implementation of Universal Credit. We are currently experiencing issues with the Ardenglen Facebook account but the issue is a widespread problem linked to

your local area are listed below. Full contact and surgery details can be found at 0141 287 2000 or visit the Council’s website: www.glasgow.gov.uk

• Euan Blockley - 0141 287 7031 • Bailie Glen Elder - 0141 287 4663 • Margaret Morgan - 0141 287 0224 • Malcolm Cunning - 0141 287 3937 If you need any assistance regarding councillors please call our office on 0141 634 8016 where a member of staff will be

Keeping you informed...

happy to assist. Facebook updating their site. We hope the problem will be addressed by Facebook soon. In addition to this we are collating tenant email addresses. Email is a fast, free method of communication and gives you the opportunity to contact us at any given time. If you have an email address please call us to let us know on 0141 634 8016, email us at info@ardenglen.org.uk or private message us on Facebook.